Saturday, January 30, 2016

Video Of The Week: Liz Phair

Ah, the 1990s. It was a time where there was an equality of sorts in so-called "alternative rock", which I now realize is regular rock with an open mind, considering women and people of colour seem to have to somehow defend themselves for being musicians nowadays.

None of that makes sense to those of us who grew up in the 1980s and were teens in the 1990s, when people were just people and they could be judged by their character or quality of output. There were signs that women were attending universities at a higher rate then men, so it was believed the one place where gender inequality still prevailed - the workplace - would see a reversal come the New Millennium...

Oh well, so much for that, eh?

These thoughts are in my mind, constantly. And these days, Liz Phair is often in my headphones. So I figured why not add 2+2 and get her "biggest hit" on here to close off January, from 1994's Whip-Smart album, Supernova:

She directed the video herself, and the imagery is somewhat akin to that of The Breeders' Cannonball, which was directed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and acclaimed director Spike Jonze, proving Phair had enough talent in more than one artistic endeavour.

She still tours, to this day, and there are rumours that she will soon embark on a tour headlining for a half-original Smashing Pumpkins acoustic tour (featuring main songwriter Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, but missing guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky).

Writer, mostly, in mediums diverse and similar: musician, film-maker, poet - not the bad type, nor the pretentious type. It's more that I suck at everything except producing words and shouting ideas at people. Oh, and I'm the guy who brings you UnPop Montreal yearly, helping the little guy get a voice in this variety-deprived city.